The Art of Professional Translation

The reign of automatic translators has not comebaguettes. From scratch to be precise. He takes
yet to replace professional translation...his bag of flour, add water and yeast and shape
Professional translation cannot just be summed uphis baguettes. Quite simple, isn't it? However, not
by the interchange of an English word for aevery baguette tastes the same… why is
French one. Sure enough, software programsthat? Well, first of all, a lot of savoir-faire and a
exist to do this but the reign of automatictouch of salt. A good baker also knows how to
translators has not come yet. For the moment,use the oven. A tasteful baguette must not
and I believe it will always be the case, they arespend too much time of the oven. Trust me, it is
not good enough. For example, the automaticnot that simple to get a perfect crust.
translation of an article about the wife of theWell, the translator is doing the same with the
American president, Laura Bush, appeared to besource text. First step, he writes a draft. As for
quite a mess. Given that automatic translators arethe baguette, it could be enough, the text is
set to recognize but a few collocations, some oftranslated. However, it misses the " savoir-faire
them can be problematic. This is why "Lauraand salt part " or as we say, proofreading. We
Bush" had been translated in French to "le buissoncheck that there are no misunderstandings, nor
de Laura". "Bush" was misinterpreted as a nounincoherences. But then again, it is not finished. The
(Laura's bush) and not as a family name. Thetranslation is not smooth, or fluent. As the crust
funny part is that when you speak about theof the baguette can make our mouths water, the
bush of a woman, as the translation makes ittranslation has to look perfect and genuine. The
appear in French, you are talking about somethingreader must not see that the target text is a
else entirely, with no link to politics whatsoever.professional translation. As for the baguette, what
Not quite serious enough for a paper…would be our reaction if we discover that it was
As long as automatic translators will make thosefrozen a few hours before we enter the bakery?
kind of mistakes, human translators will beOnce all these steps have been carried out, such
needed. I defined in the first paragraph whata professional translation will be as crusty as the
professional translation was not, let's see whatbaguette and achieve what it was made for.
translating is really like. The first word that comeEveryone has the same ingredients in hands, but
to mind is craftsman. A translator is a craftsman.the difference in quality is so vast. Do not
Some of you, dear readers, may feel sceptical.underestimate the power that is given to
Why am I speaking about art and craftsmanship?translators, they are the bearers of a know-how
Let's take for example the baker makingthat would let the world tasteless without it.